Juani Feliz

Juani Feliz (born January 3, 1989) is a Dominican-American actress. She is best known for playing Isabela Benitez-Santiago in Tracy Oliver's Amazon comedy series Harlem, Carmen in Ava DuVernay's HBO Max series DMZ, and Alejandra Lopez in FX's Fleishman Is In Trouble. In 2022, Feliz was named one of People en Español's 50 Más Bellos ("50 Most Beautiful") of 2022. Early life Feliz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx. She started acting at the age of 14 after getting involved in her first school play. She landed her first TV role at the age of 15 on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Her acting career took a backseat when she graduated high school and studied biomedical engineering at Harvard University. After college, Feliz worked at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in Boston, where she worked on a clinical trial for a melanoma cancer vaccine and helped develop biomaterials and drug delivery systems. During this time she also completed a master's degree at Harvard. Despite her career in bioengineering, Feliz made her return to acting in 2016. Career Upon her return to acting, Feliz made her big screen debut in The Purge: Election Year. Between 2016 and 2018, she guest starred on various TV series including Blue Bloods, Power, Shades of Blue, One Dollar and had a major supporting role in the film Canal Street. In 2017, she was one of the 12 actors chosen to be part of the ABC Discovers Talent Showcase. In 2019, she filmed her first network pilot as a series regular on the ABC romantic drama Until The Wedding and filmed for a major supporting role in the upcoming feature film Quiet In My Town. In 2020, Feliz won Best Supporting Actress at the Utah Film Festival for her performance in the indie short Below The Belt.